Health Insurance: A Must for Your Travel Itinerary
With expanding global possibilities, boundaries are becoming invisible. People are traveling to various new countries to explore career opportunities, pursue higher education, or take short or long trips for work or leisure. After two years of lockdown, travel for work and leisure has resumed, signaling a return to normalcy. As per reports, around 54 million tourists crossed overseas borders until July 2021.
While traveling expands horizons, it also introduces various risks such as accidents, physical diseases, viral infections, or any other sudden medical emergency. Especially during COVID-19, where the West is still grappling with the danger of the virus's constant spread and new variants, the need for health insurance offering global coverage has become imperative for people who frequently travel across different time zones.
Understanding Global Health Insurance Coverage
Many people are unaware that health insurance plans purchased in India can cover emergency treatments in other countries. Numerous health insurance policies are valid in foreign countries, providing coverage to the policyholder during emergencies. Such plans offer support in managing international hospitalization bills and expenses incurred, including air ambulance expenses to repatriate the policyholder in worst-case scenarios. Different plans are available with varied features and capping on the sum insured amount for international hospitalization.
Health insurance plans with global coverage help individuals seek medical support and begin treatment during an emergency, such as an accident or sudden illness in a foreign country, where the policyholder is unfamiliar with local contacts or facilities. Moreover, in case of an emergency in a foreign country, managing expenses in foreign currency can be challenging, as people typically don't carry large sums of cash. In such scenarios, health insurance acts as a crucial companion.
Indeed, health insurance plans with international coverage are more expensive compared to regular comprehensive health insurance, with premiums ranging almost 3-4 times higher. However, considering the potential expense of international health treatment, the premium definitely seems highly affordable.
Tips for Selecting the Best Health Insurance Plan with Global Coverage
While it is very significant to select the right plan that meets the policyholder's needs, here are a few tips for selecting the best health insurance plan with global coverage:
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Sufficient Coverage
It is mandatory to select a plan that provides sufficient coverage in terms of features and sum insured amount to meet expenses abroad, as medical treatment can be quite expensive in foreign currency. Also, one should be aware of their existing health conditions and potential triggers for pre-existing conditions, such as extreme weather or specific foods. The plan should cover such medical conditions.
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Comprehensive Treatment
As medical emergencies are unexpected and of various types, a person may require hospitalization, OPD services, diagnostic services, etc. Thus, the health insurance plan should be comprehensive enough to provide coverage for all necessary treatments required at the time of emergency.
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Minimal Waiting Period & Co-payment
Generally, health insurance plans come with a pre-defined waiting period before services commence. Therefore, one must ensure that the waiting period does not conflict with their travel plans to avail services of the health insurance plan overseas. Also, such plans come with a co-payment option where a pre-defined percentage of expenses must be paid by the policyholder. As medical expenses can be a significant financial burden and lead to urgent situations, the co-payment percentage should be minimal.
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